


Picking Up The Pieces

by st4rlabsforever (omaken)



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Post-2x18
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-22
Updated: 2016-04-22
Packaged: 2018-06-03 17:26:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6619696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/omaken/pseuds/st4rlabsforever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cisco helps Barry recover after the events of 2x18.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Picking Up The Pieces

**Author's Note:**

> check me out on [tumblr](http://st4rlabsforever.tumblr.com)

“Come with me,” Cisco said as he pulled Barry away from the others.

Adjusting to life without the Speed Force had been just as hard on Barry as Cisco had expected it to be. Not even an hour had passed since Zoom had taken Caitlin and Barry had screamed, first in frustration, then in despair.

Cisco led the way through halls that echoed too loudly as Barry followed wordlessly behind him. The silence that Zoom had left in his wake had been deafening, and none of them had truthfully known what to say.

“Well, here we are,” Cisco said with a flourish. “Welcome to my humble abode.”

“What is this place?” Barry looked around in subdued curiosity. There were tables piled high with china dishes and a variety of glasses. There were stacks of dilapidated dressers and drawers hanging out by their hinges. Mounds of thick textbooks with ripped pages scattered on the floor. A vanity and wardrobe that looked more like they belonged in a Victorian estate rather than against the sleek walls of STAR Labs.

“I like to call this...therapy. Think fast.” He tossed a baseball bat to Barry.

“Uh...I’m not really following.”

Cisco sighed. No wonder Barry was so stressed all the time. “Watch and learn, young padawan.”

He picked up an identical bat, strode over to the table with the china, and smashed downwards as hard as he could, the shattering of porcelain and ceramic and glass sustained as he swept the remnants off the tabletop.

“Your turn,” he said as he turned back to Barry.

Barry hesitated.

“Come on, put those muscles you have now to good use.” There was a moment when he wasn’t sure Barry wasn’t going to just walk out the door, but then he was nodding.

And that was Cisco’s cue. He flipped a switch on the wall and a rack of crystal chandeliers lowered from the ceiling.

Barry didn’t wait any longer, just stalked forward before going to town. For his part, Cisco sat back against the door and just watched Barry work.

This room was his personal hideaway -- not even Hartley or Cait knew about it. He’d hidden away and vented his frustrations here after finding out Dr. Wells was the Reverse Flash; after he’d learned he was a metahuman; and again after figuring out he could open the breaches to Earth-2. But Barry needed this right now, to not think about anything or make himself feel any guiltier than he was no doubt already feeling.

It was two hours later when he had finally finished.

“Wow. That was impressive.” Cisco looked around at the destruction Barry had wrought. There was no piece of tableware left unshattered, no book left unshredded, no corner Barry hadn’t turned over and inside out. He was definitely going to have to go dumpster diving again for an entire month to replenish the room, but it was worth it if it helped Barry.

“Feel any better?”

“A little, actually,” Barry acknowledged. He was panting as he wiped the sweat from his brow.

Cisco patted the ground next to him in invitation.

“What now?” Barry asked. “Zoom still has Caitlin and I still don’t have my speed.”

Oh, no. He knew he had to cut Barry off soon or he would progress to full-on brooding, which never went well for any of them; the last time Barry had felt this guilty, he’d shut all of them out of the lab and tried to go it solo.

“You’re forgetting one thing, though.”

“What’s that?” Barry sounded less forlorn -- a little more hopeful -- if his ears weren’t deceiving him.

“Me. I’m your secret weapon.” He pulled out the goggles. “There’s gotta be some universe where you lose your speed and figure out how to get it back. I mean, the possibilities of the multiverse are endless, right?”

Barry looked like he was considering that.

“And don’t forget, I’ve got some offensive powers up my sleeve, too, so I can hold up the fort until you’re back on your feet. Just have to figure out how to use them.”

Well, not really. He didn’t have a clue how to do any of those things and it terrified him, but he had to be confident because this had to be about Barry right now. When he’d been petrified of reopening the breaches, it had helped immensely to just have Barry there to believe in him, and he would be damned if he didn’t return the favor now. He could figure out the actual details later, but Barry was right: he had a new family now who he knew would always have his back. Between Hartley and Harry, figuring out his powers and helping Barry get his speed back didn’t seem so hard.

“Yeah, okay.” Barry said with a grin just short of sunny. It was a start, though, Cisco figured.

“And there’s at least one good thing that’ll come from this.”

“Yeah?”

“The suit. It’ll finally have time to air out so it doesn’t stink so much.”

Barry’s face turned nearly as red as the suit. “I told you I can’t help that!” he whined.[1]

“Chill, I’m just busting your chops.” He nudged Barry before rising to his feet. “Besides, there’s one last thing I have for you.”

Cisco placed his thumb on an inconspicuous section of the wall. When the panel opened towards them, a chill hit his body. And maybe this wasn’t an appropriate circumstance for alcohol, but Barry definitely needed this. The past two years had shown them that nothing good ever came from rushing in blindly without a plan, and with the rest of the team taking a breather to clear their minds, there wasn’t much that could be done until morning anyway.

He pulled out a bottle of whiskey and gave Barry a look. “Wind down tonight and work tomorrow, right?”

“Cisco…” Barry groaned.

“Come on, come on, it’s been like, over two years, dude. Just have a little.”

Barry sighed. “...Alright, I guess.”

Cisco whooped. Everything Cait said about him being a bad influence was absolutely true, but he mentally shrugged that off.

 

* * *

 

 

‘A little’ turned out to be almost the entire bottle of whiskey. It turned out that Barry’s metabolism was still a lot higher than a normal human’s, but he could definitely get drunk now if the puddle of human in front of Cisco was anything to go by.

“Y’r a goo’ friend, Cisco,” he slurred.

“Alright, it’s past your bedtime, let’s go.”

“Wait, I mean it!” Barry looked alarmed now, sobering up a little. Evidently, his metabolic rate hadn’t returned to normal yet, because he’d gone from nearly blackout to wobbly to slightly more alert over the course of the last hour. “I wouldn’ be th’ person I am t’day if it wasn’ f’r all of you guys, but you espesh--” he stuttered, “--especially, Cisco.”

Cisco blushed, grateful that Barry wasn’t likely to remember any of this tomorrow.

“Up you go, come on,” He pulled Barry up, who promptly went limp as a noodle and collapsed over Cisco.

Scratch that. He was still categorically drunk and there was no way Cisco would be able to carry him all the way back to his car. Sighing, he resigned himself to dragging Barry over to one of the torn-up couches, mindful to avoid any of the glass shards that littered the floor.

“Oof.” Somehow, Barry maneuvered himself on top and they landed with a thud on the cushions, Cisco below and Barry draped over him like a blanket.

“Barry?” he tried when he realized the man in question had no intention of moving.

“Hmm?”

“I gotta get home.” He didn’t, really, but if Barry was drunk, he wanted to save them both the embarrassment of waking up in a tangled mess.

When he moved to get up though, Barry tightened his grip and let out a soft keening noise. “Stay.”

He unburied himself from the crook of Cisco’s shoulder to look him directly in the eye. “Please?”

And what was a guy supposed to say to that? Especially when Barry was pouting like that, lips puckered and eyebrows scrunched.

Cisco lowered himself back down. “Okay.”

Besides, Barry had done this plenty of times for Cisco, the last being when Kendra had left with Carter, so he figured this was alright even if Barry was still a little drunk.[2] Barry didn’t answer, just let his head droop down again. Soon enough, he was snoring softly and Cisco found himself drifting off as well.

 

* * *

 

 

Cisco woke up to Barry drooling on his favorite shirt -- the friendship algorithm one that Barry had given him for his birthday last year. The crick in his neck hurt like a mother, too, but it was worth it to see the worry lines fade a little from Barry’s forehead when he finally rose, grumbling about his splitting hangover.

**Author's Note:**

> 1 In the Chronicles of Cisco, Cisco complains that the Flash suit reeks because of Barry's excessive sweat. [link](http://chroniclesofcisco.tumblr.com/post/143178109335/a-late-night-at-star-labs-turns-dangerous-in)[return to text]
> 
> 2 Again in the Chronicles of Cisco, Barry essentially helps Cisco move on after his breakup with Kendra. [link](http://chroniclesofcisco.tumblr.com/post/134742315950/on-a-scale-of-one-to-adele-my-breakup-with-kendra)[return to text]


End file.
